SPACE CONQUERORS!

Henry R. Kujawa April 28, 2012 at 5:26pm

Back on this after a few days. I downloaded the next 6 months's worth. Apparently, 6 months worth of issues is all my computer can manage with this BOY'S LIFE "Wayback Machine" Google Books site, before I need to REBOOT to overcome crippling memory overload. Crazy.

Anyway, just processed and posted the next 3 months, and I see I've already reached the point where GEORGE EVANS took over the art from Al Stenzel. It's amazing how I can recognize his style due to a few of the faces being so similar to the way he drew faces in that one issue of SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP. (I half wonder why he only ever did 1-1/2 issues of SVTU, and not consecutively; did he perhaps not like "the Marvel Method" in the early 70's?)

The first clue was that the art went from clean but simple to a LOT more detailed. This was a BIG improvement. I'm not a huge George Evans afficiado, but so far, this is some DAMN NICE stuff!

Check it out, the Evans pages start with the August 1953 issue.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/space-conquer...

Henry R. Kujawa May 2, 2012 at 1:16pm

I've got these finished up to the end of 1958.

I believe I have correctly identified the point where LOU FINE took over from George Evans. Cleaner rendering, less "gritty", more of an "early Gil Kane" look (if Kane knew what he was doing-- heh). I suppose one also could say a bit more "generic Johnstone & Cushing", which is how it was described in the ALTER EGO article I read some years ago. (Another fan suggested it looked to him like Neal Adams' work.)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/space-conquer...

Henry R. Kujawa May 5, 2012 at 10:38am

Just reached a milestone in this project this morning-- the beginning of the "Galaxy One" era, which was clearly inspired to some degree by FORBIDDEN PLANET. The entire run of the strip from the beginning up to this has now been cleaned up and posted at my blog. And now I get to enjoy the part I've been really looking forward to!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2012/05/space-conquer...

Henry R. Kujawa May 16, 2012 at 4:12pm

Just wanted to put the word out that, as of today, I've finished the entire SPACE CONQUERORS! project at my blog. Wow! From 1952-72, with art by Al Stenzel, George Evans, Lou Fine, Alden McWilliams & Gray Morrow, it's been an fun ride (and not a little bit of work cleaning these up).

If anyone has any info about artists I'm missing, I'd appreciate it. Several people have suggested, before I ever started this, that there may be several other artists involved, but at the moment, nobody can quite be sure, because most of them tended to work in the "Johnstone & Cushing" house style.

The beginning:
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/space-conquer...

The ending:
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2012/05/space-conquer...

ENJOY!

Luke Blanchard May 17, 2012 at 12:25am

There are credits for some of the stories here (in French).

Henry R. Kujawa May 17, 2012 at 8:25am

Thanks. Nothing I didn't know already. HOWEVER...

Space Conquerors! Boys' Life (May 1963)
script: Al Stenzel; art: Lou Fine (replacing George Evans in the early '60s until his death in 1971. Alden McWilliams took after him until October 1972.)

TOTALLY wrong!!! Fine took over in the late 50's. McWilliams took over in the mid-60's, then was replaced by Gray Morrow in the late 60's. Fine came back, but when he passed away, Morrow returned for the last story in 1972.

I've appreciated some of the comments and information I've found at various blogs, but having looked at the art very closely, it's pretty obvious in places where they changed artists, and the French site is clearly in error on the entire 2nd half of the run.

Kirk G May 17, 2012 at 1:01pm

I remember reading some of these in Boys Life in early 1960s and thought they were great... could never finish a whole story though... I do recall some time travel trip where they went to Aztec Indians and watched a ball in hoop game but fled when it was over, cause the winners could claim anything they wanted from the audience and losers. Does this sound familiar?

Henry R. Kujawa May 17, 2012 at 2:29pm

That sounds like it might have been part of the "PHILMONT SCOUT RANCH" strip that ran for awhile in the mid-60's.

Henry R. Kujawa October 22, 2012 at 5:09pm

Kirk G:

"I flipped around your incredible blog and skimmed a few of the storylines. They get more complex, and even include images of the Discovery from 2001: A Space Odessey as the decade draws to a close.Let's do a little math. Let's call the period of publication roughtly 20 years, from Sept. 52 to Oct. '72.... Given 12 months, 12 installments per year, that's roughly 240 installments, or maybe 241 if you include the final one. Not a bad collection. And see, that math wasn't so difficult, without even counting them all up, eh? LOL!"

I looked up on my list... as far as I know, here's how it breaks down by artist:

Sep'52 -- Al Stenzel

Aug'53 -- George Evans

Jul'58 -- Lou Fine

Sep'62 -- "GALAXY ONE" storyline debuts!!!

Mar'66 -- Alden McWilliams

Jan'68 -- Gray Morrow

Sep'70 -- Lou Fine returns

Feb'72 -- Gray Morrow returns

Mar'72 -- Lou Fine

Jun'72 -- Gray Morrow (last 4 strips)

Henry R. Kujawa March 15, 2013 at 11:14am

The following has nothing to do with comics, but it just seemed to me like this was the most appropriate place to post it.

Awhile back, I got rather annoyed when a number of sources, referring to the famous APOLLO 11 mission, began blindly mis-quoting Neal Armstrong's immortal line when he first set foot on the moon.

Instead of "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.", I began hearing people say "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

My friend, writer Arnold Drake, commented, "They gave him a script, and he got the line wrong." HAH! Maybe Arnold was right. But I knew it didn't change was Armstrong had actually said. And I get really bugged by "revisionist history" where people try to claim something was a certain way, when I know it wasn't.

Well... this morning, just a few minutes ago, I got PROOF. I was listening to a 7" 33 rpm vinyl record titled MAN ON THE MOON, narrated by Walter Cronkite. On Side 2, one can CLEARLY hear Neal Amstrong's words.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Further, a few minutes later, Walter Cronkite quotes Armstrong's words.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

So, not only did Neal Armstrong say it that way, Walter Cronkite ALSO said it that way!

Guess what?

On the way back from the moon, Buzz Aldrin had some words about the overwhelming social significance of the mission, in terms of all humanity. And he brought up Armstrongs's words.

"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Aldrin MIS-QUOTED Armstrong!!!

I wonder if all these latter-day idiots realize they are NOT quoting Armstrong-- they're actually quoting Aldrin???

: )

Forum 2.0

SPACE CONQUERORS!

Replies